


Guardian of Fun

by MiidiocreShards



Series: The Guardian Chronicles [1]
Category: Frozen (2013), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: F/M, Jelsa - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-13
Updated: 2014-05-13
Packaged: 2018-01-24 15:00:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1609325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiidiocreShards/pseuds/MiidiocreShards
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack has finally become a Guardian, but even if his center is fun, he still has a lot of work to do! Will a certain snow queen help him or break his heart?</p>
<p>Disclaimer: I do not own Frozen or Rise of the Guardians in any way whatsoever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

  **My first Jelsa**   **fic! Please enjoy! ^_^**

* * *

Prologue: The Summoning

* * *

"Rise thee, O Ancient Deity of the Night Sky. Bring forth thy power and grant the wish of thy humble servant."

Minutes passed in silence as the two siblings in the room waited expectantly.

"I don't think it's working," Tyler Kingson finally pointed out to his adoptive sister. The bowl of shepherd's pie she had set in the middle of the summoning circle lay unmoving; unless there was something minuscule eating away at the 'offering' crumb by crumb, it was obviously still untouched.

"I can see that, Tyler," she replied matter-of-factly. She stared at it for a brief moment, then sighed and tossed the book she held aside. "Go get some sponges. Mom and dad will freak out if they see this."

"Sure," he nodded, though he really didn't want to. He had drawn that circle himself, and he was quite proud of how close he had gotten to the image portrayed in the book.

But she was right. Their parents wouldn't be too happy to see some weird design painted on his sister's floor. Even if it wasn't technically painted; Tyler had sketched it with a black marker.

Tyler grabbed some sponges from the utility closet, and a bucket. There was a bathroom connected to his sister's room so he would fill it up when he returned.

"I brought a bucket-" Tyler halted in his tracks. There was water spreading across the circle, along with shards of glass. Besides the pie, his sister had also placed a bottle of vodka in the circle. How had it ended up broken?

He peered at the bowl and his heart nearly stopped. It was licked clean, as if someone had eaten it.

Dropping the bucket and sponges, Tyler raced to her bathroom, but she wasn't there. He headed out and searched the rest of the house. Maybe she was just hiding, maybe this was some kind of joke or something. Maybe the missing pie was coincidence, she could have been peckish.

Deep down, Tyler knew he was lying to himself. And as his efforts grew more hopeless, Tyler knew he had to accept the truth:

**The summoning had worked.**

And whatever had been summoned had taken his sister with it.


	2. The Snow Queen

 

Chapter 1: The Snow Queen

* * *

**279 years ago**

Everything was screaming.

The terrified people running around Jack, the howl of the dark sky overhead, and especially, the monstrous wave of snow heading towards Arendelle.

This was perhaps the avalanche of the century, a horrifying combination of four of Arendelle's biggest mountains collapsing under the weight of their snows. Jack had witnessed avalanches before, but they had been much calmer, much smaller. Little snowfalls practically.

This was a ravenous beast determined to devour everything in its path; even Jack, with his powers could not hold it back. It was too late for the kingdom.

"Jack!" he heard a voice call out.

He spun and gazed down from his perch in the air. In the middle of the town square was Queen Elsa, his closest (and only) friend.

"Jack, where are you?" she shouted.

He rushed to her side and stopped in front of her, producing a few snowflakes: their code. Elsa relaxed, then worry creased her face again.

"Can you help me? I think, I think we might be able to do something about this. Together."

Because there were no surfaces to write on, Jack had to get creative: he used his snowflakes. About the size of his palm, he wrote this message: "How? I can't even touch you."

"I know, but if we focus our energies, it might work."

"Let's give it a shot," the following snowflake read.

"Thank you, Jack."

Jack gripped his staff and closed his eyes. He could sense Elsa's power thrumming in the snow and ice, as his did, and it gave him hope. Perhaps together they could accomplish something.

_Stop,_  he commanded fiercely, releasing every ounce of power he had. It drained him, but he went on, sensing Elsa's magic doing the same.  _Stop!_

And it did.

Jack sensed the snow slowing and slowing before stopping at the harbor, spilling into the frozen waters. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"We did it, Elsa!" He opened his eyes, and his body went rigid at the sight before him.

"Elsa!" a familiar voice screamed. Princess Anna ran to her sister, her husband, Kristoff by her side. She fell to her knees, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Oh, Elsa."

The snow queen was encased completely in a chunk of gem-shaped ice.

Jack inhaled sharply. "It's just a glitch," he told himself. "You can make the ice go away."

He placed his staff on the ice and willed it to go away and free Elsa. Although his magic was mostly used up, it didn't take that much to melt ice. It should have vanished in a puddle around Elsa's skirts as she blinked and laughed at the blunder.

Except it didn't. Elsa remained frozen.

"Don't panic," Jack said, and tried again. And again. And again.

The ice refused to melt.

In a fit of rage, Jack banged his staff against the ice, to no avail. It didn't even crack.

"No, Elsa. Elsa!" He struck and bashed the ice in a crazy frenzy, but it had no effect. He smashed his fist against the chunk one last time. "Elsa..."

"Anna." He turned to see Kristoff helping Anna to her feet. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "You're our leader now. What should we do?"

For a moment, Jack saw her fear, her hesitation, but Anna swallowed it up as well as her sister would have. "Bring Elsa to the palace. Let's try and break through that ice."

Several men came to haul Elsa onto a wagon, before proceeding to the palace. Kristoff went to gather his tools while Anna started to search for craftsman skilled with ice.

Meanwhile, Jack floated on the breeze, watching the happenings in a daze.

"Maybe I am sucked dry," he said aloud, knowing no one else heard him. That was the most likely reason why he couldn't make a bit of ice go away.

Kristoff and the other men would be able to free Elsa soon, within the day even. By tonight, she and Jack would probably be talking all about the entire ordeal, and how he had kicked up a fuss over nothing.

Only Elsa never awakened from her frozen slumber.

For days, they tried and tried again with all manner of tools and machinery. Not even a tiny speck came off.

They placed Elsa next to a roaring bonfire in the palace courtyard for a whole week. Hardly a drip of water could be seen.

Jack had thought they would bring Elsa back inside, but Anna decided it was best if her sister remained in the open air. She even stationed guards in the courtyard, just in case.

As for Jack, he stayed in Arendelle longer than he ever had before, in hopes his power would grow strong enough to release Elsa from her icy prison. But he didn't have any luck with the ice block either.

One night, after Jack had collapsed in a sweaty heap after yet another attempt at melting the ice, he decided to speak to the moon about it. Surely the moon had some notion or useful advice, even if it hadn't spoken a word to him since the day he awoke.

Lying on the hard tiles of the courtyard, the full moon hovered high above him, its silvery glow lighting up the blackness of the night.

"Please help me," he begged. "Elsa is..."

But the moon did not reply, and Jack felt his heart sink. A scream of frustration ripped through the air, going unnoticed by everyone in the palace.

~.~

**Present Day**

"What do you do after you defeat a guy who almost wipes out your existence from the world?" Jack inquired merrily, as the group walked into North's workshop. "Oh, and after you become a Guardian?"

"You shut up and go to sleep," Bunnymund said grumpily.

"Yeah, I can see you doing that. Not me."

"Well, you should start setting up shop, Jack," Tooth offered.

Jack frowned. "What, like North's workshop?"

"She means setting up your holiday," North clarified. "Your base, the date, helpers; important things like that."

"Really? You guys did that?"

Tooth nodded. "It's a lot of work. I was lucky to have my Mini-fairies."

"I was lucky to have Coryzus," North said. One of the yetis nearby grunted. "All of you as well."

Jack looked at Bunnymund. "I had help too; these guys came over after I became a Guardian."

Sandy created an image of Bunnymund's walking eggs.

"Them too." Bunnymund nodded. "I suppose since this whole fuss with Pitch is over, there's no harm in helping."

"What about you, Sandy?" Jack asked.

Sandy just gave an enigmatic smile.

"It's best to start with thinking about how to fulfill your role as a Guardian," Tooth said. "North spreads wonder by delivering presents. Sandy guards children's dreams every night. Bunny-"

"Sure, sure," Jack interrupted, his mind whirling. He had known he was taking on a lot of responsibility, but this sounded an awful lot like  _work._ And true to his nature as Guardian of Fun, organization and order weren't his strong points.

They were  _her_ strong points.

Jack halted, as he usually did when she came to mind. He felt his heart throb in his chest painfully, as his grip on his staff tightened.

"Jack?" Tooth's voice sounded distant.

"Sorry. I, I need to go." Without another word, Jack turned, heading for the doors.

"What was that all about?" he thought he heard North say, as the doors slammed behind him and he stepped into the cold.

~.~

Let the wind carry you to a place far, far away from the great North; a forest reserve where the kingdom of Arendelle once stood.

Arendelle had been peaceful and prosperous for about a hundred years following Anna's succession to the throne. But nothing lasts forever: a terrible tsunami had washed over the land, wiping out virtually every trace that Arendelle ever existed. It did not help around that time, foreign invaders were threatening the kingdom.

The people of Arendelle chose to abandon their country, and sought refuge elsewhere. Jack never did discover where exactly they went.

Jack lounged comfortably on empty air, as he contemplated the freezing waves beneath him. It would be a chilly swim, but then again, it wasn't like the cold bothered him anyway.

With a dramatic twirl, he leaped into the waters.

Swimming reminded Jack of the day he woke up from that icy pond, the moonlight guiding him back to the surface.

He made his way to an almost invisible hole carved into the side of the land, which was covered in a solid layer of frost; not that anyone noticed the frost was there all year-around. Jack touched the icy surface and willed it to disappear. He always felt satisfied when it did go away, opening up a path for him.

After replacing the ice barricade, he swam through the tunnel. It was dark, but he had journeyed this way so many times he could do it with his eyes closed.

"Ah!" he gasped as he emerged from the water. The tunnel had led him to a pool in some sort of cave. Jack waded to the edge of the pool before hoisting himself out.

He shook himself out of habit, but his clothes were still soaked and heavy. As if he wasn't used to it. He pulled his hoodie off and continued walking.

This was the darkest part of the cave, inhospitable and plain creepy. There was barely any light at all, and Jack was sure there were bats somewhere inside, which meant the floor was probably covered in droppings. Not to mention stalagmites and stalactites were everywhere, poised to injure the unwary explorer.

He made a point to hover over the ground once he exited the pool.

Once Jack had trudged through the cave for what seemed like an eternity, he spotted the soft radiance up ahead and his spirits lifted. He called to the wind to carry him faster; the next thing he knew he was zooming towards the light like a mad whirlwind.

For it was here, where moonlight shone down from a large crack-like hole in the ceiling, that Queen Elsa was kept.

After a year had passed with no sign of any change in Elsa's condition, Anna and Kristoff had resolved to hide her away.

The people mourned their young queen, but it was time to move on. They didn't need to wake up and see the ice block in the palace courtyard and be reminded of the hopelessness of their situation. At least, Anna didn't.

The trolls had shown her this cave and they had assisted with building the secret passageway that connected it to the palace. The passageway had been destroyed along with Arendelle's palace all those years ago.

Jack had followed Anna through the passageway a few times, before figuring out a different route. As long as people like that damned Hans-of-the-Southern-Isles existed, Elsa would never be completely safe. In fact, Jack had resolved to destroy the passageway himself should any danger arise.

His own route was near-impossible for any ordinary human to access; the forest reserve was off-limits to developers and the like, and with a couple of favors from the Guardians, he had made sure it stayed that way. Visitors were banned from swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving and performing any underwater explorations.

To reach the entrance itself, you had to be able to hold your breath for seven minutes, and that's even if you could find it in the first place. Drilling through the ice using any machinery would take a good fifteen minutes; explosives would automatically destroy the underwater tunnel. Traveling to the pool in the cave would take another twenty, maybe even thirty minutes.

The cave had many branches, some lead to dead ends, some lead to other caves. The passage to Elsa's part of the maze was the darkest and the longest, but unfortunately, the path did not diverge; anyone with enough patience would reach what lay at the end.

As a precaution, Jack had scattered traps around the area where the moonlight shone; none could be avoided unless the wind itself carried them like it carried him.

"Elsa," he said softly, though he knew she would not answer. He didn't mind; he just wanted to hear her name. Anna, Kristoff, even Olaf were no longer here to remember her, to call out for her.

Jack landed on the soft moss padding the floor. Elsa had been placed in a niche of the cave that was slightly higher than the rest of it. There was no ceiling here, so the sunlight and moonlight could shine freely. Come spring, there would be wild flowers too.

Once, he had worried about the lack of a ceiling, before he discovered the trolls had got it covered. When Jack had atempted to chart a route from the palace to the niche, he had always found himself circling the area for hours on end. Only when he used Anna's path or his own would he find Elsa again.

He didn't know how those sneaky little creatures had done it, but they had made the niche invisible to both humans and spirits alike.

If Pitch had found Elsa...

Jack shook his head. He didn't want to imagine it.

"He's gone now anyways," he said loudly.

_He's gone now anyways, he's gone now anyways,_ the cave echoed back at him.

Jack laughed. "Oops."

Then he froze. He had expected to see Elsa, her eyes closed peacefully, her arms outstretched as if to touch him. He hadn't expected...nothing.

The niche was empty.

Jack marched deeper into the space. There was nothing but a puddle where Elsa had been, probably from the rain or a late snowfall. He gazed up at the ceiling; had someone breached the troll's magic?

All of a sudden, he couldn't breathe.  _What if it was Pitch?_

Don't panic, don't panic, he told himself as he turned back to the exit. But if it was true, Jack wouldn't be able to rescue Elsa on his own. He'd have to tell the other Guardians-

"What?" To his utter astonishment, there was a staircase leading from the side of the exit to the roof of the niche. And it was made from- "Ice."

_It can't be._

Jack whistled to the wind, and it whisked him up. When he saw where the staircase lead to, his jaw dropped.

On the roof was a huge ice platform, though that wasn't what took his attention. It was the figure standing there, clad in a familiar gown, their hair flying about in the breeze.

Jack's voice wobbled as he spoke her name, "Elsa?"

"Yes?" She turned and stared at him in surprise. "Who are you?"

It really was Elsa. That stern gaze touched with the slightest hint of curiosity, the regal queenlike manner she held herself.

For the first time in his life, Jack couldn't find his voice, couldn't find any words to explain who he was to her, who she was to him. Instead, his body moved on its own: he raised his hand and produced three snowflakes.

That beautiful cerulean he never thought he would see again lighted up, and she smiled the loveliest smile he had ever witnessed. "Jack?"

There was a delight in her voice that broke his heart.

"I can see you!" she exclaimed excitedly. "I can finally see you! And I can hear your voice. Oh, Jack." She rubbed her sleeve against her eyes. "It's like a dream come true."

He smiled gently, feeling himself tearing up as well. There would be waterworks later.

"Elsa..." He floated down to the platform, and put up a finger to catch the tear she had missed.

Except, his finger went right through her cheek. A gasp escaped him.

"What is it?" Elsa asked. "Jack?"

"I can't touch you," he whispered in horror. "I can't touch you."

Then, Jack realized that wouldn't be the worst thing he would be telling her today.

 


	3. 'Your Sister Is Dead'

Chapter 2: 'Your Sister Is Dead'

* * *

This is a fairytale from a very long time ago.

Once, there was a little girl who lived in a castle surrounded by mountains. The girl did not understand what it meant to be warm, for she had been born of the cold.

Jagged icicles would sprout from surfaces she touched. Crude snowflakes hung in the air she breathed. Even the sunlight was weakened in the presence of the girl, the child of ice and snow.

She could feel the magic in her blood, threatening to consume her at times. There had been a prophecy that foretold her fear would be the undoing of her, so the girl strived day and night to control it. Deep down, she was terrified that she would indeed succumb to the strength of her powers and that all she loved would be destroyed by her hand.

On a summer day, she found herself flinging yet another book against the wall. The jacket was covered with spirals of frost.

The girl felt tears stream down her cheeks and touched her face. The tears froze and she brushed them off, letting them fall to the floor. She hated crying, the tears would always turn to ice; a sign of both her inability to do anything about her magic and her own lack of strength.

Out of the blue, the windows burst open, followed by a strong gust of wind that tousled her hair.

As the girl shut the windows, a snowflake landed on her hand. She stared at it, for it was unlike anything she'd ever made before. It looked like a delicate carving and it seemed to be light blue in color.

Then, the snowflake burst, the dust getting into her eyes. The girl began giggling, astonished at herself. It had been so long since she'd last laughed so freely.

A sharp crackle caught her attention and she gasped.

On her windows were words written in frost. Again, it was different; the frost reminded her more of ferns than the sharp shards she made. She read the sentence aloud,

**"Do you want to have some fun?"**

~.~

Elsa felt a pang. "Jack, Jack, it's alright," she tried to assure him. "I don't need to touch you." She moved, but he recoiled back.

"Please don't, Elsa," he said softly.

"Alright." She brightened her expression. "What am I doing here? Did you do this, or did Anna?"

Jack was quiet, which unsettled her. He peered at her face. "What do you remember?"

"I-" She put a finger to her chin. "I remember finding myself in the cave down there. There was water all over the floor for some reason. Then, I made the staircase and came up here, right before you arrived."

"Before that?"

"Before that? You mean before I came to?" She closed her eyes, then flung them open again. "The avalanche," she whispered, her blood running cold. "The kingdom, Anna, Kristoff, everyone, what happened? Did we stop it in time?"

"We did," he said, but he was still tense.

Elsa took a step forward and ignored the ache in her chest when Jack backed away. "What are you not telling me?"

"What are you talking about?"

"There's something you're keeping from me. Jack, I'm not the same person I was a year ago. Whatever has happened while I've been here, I can handle it."

Jack opened his mouth to speak, when another voice boomed, "So this is what you've been hiding, eh, Jack?"

A large shape dressed in scarlet trotted up the stairs, making the ice shake. Elsa's mouth hung open in a perfect 'O'.

"Santa Claus?" she breathed.

"Snow Queen Elsa." He hugged her and kissed her on both cheeks.

Jack cleared his throat. "Most of his friends call him North."

"That we do." There was a thud, and Elsa suddenly found a large rabbit towering over her. The rabbit bowed. "E. Aster Buunymund, at your service, Your Majesty."

"The Easter Bunny," she recognized and shook his paw. It was soft and warm.

"Bunnymund to friends like you."

"Where's Tooth and Sandy?" Jack interrupted.

"Sandman and Tooth Fairy," North clarified, then turned to Jack. "Tooth has much work to do. Sandy as well. But, Jack are you not avoiding real topic?"

"North-"

North looked at Elsa. "How is it you are still here, Snow Queen Elsa? How are you still alive?"

"Just Elsa will do fine, Santa, er, North. What do you mean? What are you talking about?" She looked to Jack, and her stomach dropped. "This is what you've been keeping from me, isn't it?"

"Elsa, please," Jack begged, his face that of a desperate man's.

Elsa hardened her heart. She would learn the truth. She looked at North and Bunnymund, and swallowed. "Please tell me what's going on."

Jack looked like he was about to protest, but seeing her face, his shoulders slumped. He floated away, averting his eyes from her.

"Dunno how to break this gently to you, Your Majesty," Bunnymund said, scratching his head.

"Simple, Bunny. You see, Elsa, it has been almost three hundred years since we last saw a trace of you, since anyone last saw a trace of you."

She blinked. "What?"

"I suppose Frost might have an explanation for us," Bunnymund said.

They automatically turned to Jack. He scowled. "What do you want?"

In recent years, Elsa had learnt that requests were often followed when they sounded more like orders, especially if accompanied by her most 'queenly' stare. "The truth, Jack. You can't keep this from me forever and you know it. You may as well tell me now."

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "You want the truth, Elsa? Your sister is dead."

It felt like the wind had been knocked out of her stomach. Time seemed to slow around her. "What did you say?"

"Anna is dead, Elsa," Jack said. He seemed to be relishing her pain. "After that avalanche, you were stuck in an ice block for the last three hundred years or so. Anna and Kristoff died two hundred years ago. Your kingdom doesn't even exist anymore."

She had heard Jack and she knew what he wasn't saying: she had nothing now. Her family, her people, her life, they were all gone. Yet that wasn't what hurt most; it was the thought that Anna, her sweet baby sister Anna, was gone forever. That Elsa had only a year to make up for the past twenty-one she had wasted isolating herself.

Elsa slowly sank to her knees. She remembered when Hans had said the same thing to her during what she considered last year. She had felt this same heaviness in her chest, only this time she was being told the truth. Her vision blurred and a single tear rolled down her cheek.

"I told you." She looked up and saw that the winter spirit was hovering over her, his features bitter. "Happy now, Elsa?" he said.

The snow queen stood up and coated her hand in ice. Without another word, she slapped him straight across his face. "Bastard."

The force sent Jack whirling back, until he hit his head on the staircase and crumpled to the ground in a heap. His staff clattered to the floor beside him while his shirt landed at the bottom of the steps. Elsa ignored the tiny prick of guilt, as she turned around and formed an ice path leading to the forest below.

"Wait, Elsa."

A wall of ice appeared between North and Elsa before he could touch her. "I'm sorry, North," she said, mustering as much calm as she could. "I need to be alone now."

She ran down the path, while high above, the wind screamed as if shrieking with the storm of emotions whirling inside of her.

~.~

"The storm's getting worse," the woman muttered to herself.

Over the private forest reserve known as 'Arendelle', a blizzard raged, piling up snows that should have melted days ago. The surrounding waters were starting to ice over. Who knew how the creatures that called the reserve home were doing.

At this rate, it would attract the attention of a local news crew at best, an international one at worst. It was bad enough Arendelle was often pressured to become a tourist spot, due to its fascinating history that coincided with another town abroad. It did not need any more attention.

The owner of the reserve sighed. "Somebody's got to do something about this." She motioned to one of her workers and began barking orders.

~.~

Elsa crouched in a corner of the cave she'd found. She hadn't been able to locate her ice palace and had assumed it had melted in the three hundred years she'd been gone. She had refrained from building a new one, lest Jack or someone else find her.

She wasn't sure how long she'd been here. Everything felt like a dream since she'd run away. Unfortunately, that didn't mean her body was the same. Her stomach rumbled and she folded her arms across it. She had only been able to procure berries and leaves since coming here.

The snow queen had no idea how she would survive like this. She couldn't hunt and she didn't know how to build a fire.

She couldn't ask anyone for help. Who knew how much the world had changed since then? Perhaps people didn't even speak the sam language she did, and she guessed that if a snow queen was frowned upon in her time, it surely had to be worse now.

Still…She licked her lips, wishing she could have a hot meal. A simple bowl of soup would have brought tears to her eyes at that point.

A growl distracted her from her hunger. She froze, and her ears detected heavy footsteps close by. She scrambled to her feet, holding her hand up.

All of a sudden, Elsa was grabbed from behind. She yelled and unleashed her magic. The perpetrator gave a yowl as their skin was laced with ice, but did not let go. She heard the sound of glass breaking, and the next thing she knew, she was being thrown into a swirling vortex.

When the world seemed to stop spinning, Elsa realized she was squinting, and she was in an office of some sort.

A fire blazed merrily in the hearth and the scent of, was that stew, tickled her nose. Her stomach made an unladylike noise.

"Put her down," someone said. Elsa was dropped into an armchair. She looked up to see a big hairy creature staring back at her. Its arm and chest were covered with sharp shards. The other seemed to have been untouched by her attack.

"You did quite a number on my yetis," the same person chuckled.

Elsa waved her hand. The ice vanished. The yeti grunted appreciatively.

"Now, down to business. I'm here, child."

At the bookcase behind the yetis was an elderly woman, or Elsa assumed her to be elderly, seeing as her hair was completely silver. She gave the snow queen a warm smile, and Elsa saw that she wasn't that old at all. The woman pulled down a book and came over.

She wore her hair in a simple bun and donned purple robes that accentuated her soft curves. Her eyes twinkled with humor, a lovely shade of green-gray.

"Hello, Elsa."

"H-hello," Elsa said, as her stomach once again protested its lack of sustenance. Heat rose to her cheeks, but the woman didn't seem bothered.

She waved to the yetis. "Go get this poor girl some food, and a change of clothes. I'm sure we have something in here." She looked at Elsa. "Preferably blue; it matches her eyes."

The yetis grunted and went to do her bidding. They returned with the goods: a tray of stew and bread, and aquamarine robes.

Elsa reached for the robes, but the woman swatted her hand. "Food first, dear."

She nodded and started to tear chunks of the bread. She dipped them in the stew and savored the flavor in her mouth, her stomach grumbling in approval. Then Elsa was aware of how impolite she was acting and made smaller pieces.

The woman laughed. "No need to be formal with me, Elsa. There, there, you look like you could use a good meal. Don't hold back."

Elsa stared at the woman uncertainly.

"I'll close my eyes if you want."

"Oh no, you don't have to. I'm just not used to acting like this in front of people."

"To be expected, dear. You did spend most of your life eating alone." The woman went over to the table and took a sip from the cup on it. "Hot chocolate?"

Elsa frowned at her. "How did you know that?"

"Silly me. I've forgotten to introduce myself again." She poured another cup from a teapot and set it on Elsa's tray. Green met blue. "I'm Coryzus St North, my dear, but I think you know me better as Mrs Claus."


End file.
